Doctors in New Delhi to be given taekwondo training in case of violent attacks

Bee Kee Ng, 11 May 2017

Doctors in AllMS, New Delhi, wore helmets at work in March 2017 in protest against lack of security measures. Photo credit: Hindustantimes/Reuters

Amid
the rise of violence
against medical practitioners in India, around 1,500 doctors at All India
Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), one of the top government hospitals,
will be given daily martial arts training in the hospital’s gym from 15 May
onwards.

“We are
genuinely concerned about our safety,” said Vijay Gurjar, president of the
resident doctors’ association, who requested the martial arts training from
the university hospital.

“The government is not taking
necessary steps”

According to Gurjar,
despite the growing violence against doctors, the government is not taking
necessary steps to decrease it.

“Prevention
is better than the cure, and if the government is not providing adequate
security, then you have to take measures to save your life or vital organs,” he
added.

In
March, a spate of attacks against medical staff in India resulted in a strike
for five days in Maharashtra as well as protests from the medical staff demanding
better
security measures and restriction on the number of visitors in public
hospitals.

“We
had supported our counterparts in Mumbai by wearing helmets to work in March.
This is because we are genuinely concerned about our safety,” said Gurjar.

“Keeping
the same in mind, we had requested the AIIMS administration to organise self-defence
classes for us. They granted us permission to conduct taekwondo classes in
AIIMS gymkhana club.”

Lack of doctor-patient trust
a major factor

According
to a study carried out in 2016, 40% of resident doctors in a Delhi hospital had
been exposed to violence at work in a span of 12 months. Additionally, the
Indian Medical Association (IMA) reported that 75% of doctors would face
physical or verbal violence in their career. Attacks against nurses and other
hospital staff also regularly occur but are often covered up.

Massive
overcrowding in the public healthcare system is said to be one of the
contributing factors to the lack of communication among physicians, patients
and their families. Besides, corruption and overcharging also affect the Indian
healthcare system, leading to the breakdown in doctor-patient trust.

“Doctors
are forced to spend less time listening to the patients or their caregivers.
The concept of shared
decision-making is almost absent. The average conversation between a doctor
and a patient might last just a few seconds,” said Dr Vijay Nath Mishra, a
neurology professor at Sir Sunderlal Hospital in Varanasi.

IMA will launch registry to
report violence

In
response to the issue, the IMA will launch a violence registry where doctors
can report cases of violence along with evidence such as videos, photos, CCTV
footage and newspaper clippings.

“This
will help us in understanding why violence is happening, predict when the
violence might happen and look at measures to prevent such incidences,” said Dr
KK Agarwal, president of the IMA.

In
the meantime, the IMA is running education programmes to encourage doctors to spend
more time and communicate better with their patients.

Stricter guidelines against
violence in Malaysia

In
Malaysia, the increasing physical and verbal abuse against Ministry
of Health (MOH) employees has similarly threatened the safety of medical
professionals. Director-general of the MOH, Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, who
recently launched guidelines to prevent and handle violence against MOH staff, expressed
his concern.

He
said that apart from physical injuries, the staff may potentially suffer mental
and emotional stress which would affect their productivity in delivering the
best service to the people.

According
to Noor Hisham, most cases were underreported, and that
MOH employees could refer to the new guidelines in taking necessary action in
the event of abuse such as one incident which went viral on social media.

“The
ministry will continue to work closely with the police and the Communications
and Multimedia Ministry to investigate allegations and threats of physical
violence against our staff on social media. We will also collect evidence to
counter the allegations,” he said. MIMS

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